By David Thielen
The remuneration policy for town council members, in regards to activities related to municipal work, was brought up for review at the regular meeting of Ponoka town council on July 14.
“In the past, the outgoing council has dealt with the council remuneration policy for the new council,” said Chief Administrative Officer Rachel Kunz, as she presented a number of recommendations for a new policy.
“The problem with the current policy is that meetings don’t fall under the policy. They are at the discretion of the mayor and I would like a very clear list to work from,” she said.
“There is a lot of inconsistency,” Betty Quinlan, Director of Corporate Services, echoed. “Especially when it comes to some of the external committees that councilors deal with.”
“If you need to take time off from work for municipal business, then the municipality has to pay for that,” said Mayor Rick Bonnett.
Councillor Loanna Gulka expressed discomfort dealing with council’s remuneration matters, and that it should be something done by an external committee. “If we do it in-house, it is not transparent,” she said.
Councillor Tim Falkiner asked “If we are directing administration to bring back options, isn’t that what we are doing here already?”
Following discussions, council approved a motion to refer the council remuneration policy for outside review. Councillor Falkiner voted against the motion.